Roberto Nickson
@rpnickson • 56,740 subscribers
Builder of things and maker of videos for the internet w/ 1.5M+ followers. How to leverage emerging tech, discover new trends and grow your audience 👇
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![I toured the only factory in America building humanoid robots from scratch. Last month, I got an exclusive first look at the facility making NEO— the humanoid robot launching into consumer homes later this year. It is the most vertically integrated humanoid robot factory in America. Every critical component is done in-house. CEO Bernt Børnich walked us through the full story: from building soapbox cars with his dad at age 11 to leading the only end-to-end humanoid robot factory in the United States. VP of Operations Vikram Kothari then took us inside the entire build process, where every motor, limb, circuit, and sensor comes together under one roof on a rapid four-week cycle from CAD to finished robot. [TIMESTAMPS] (00:00) Welcome to the NEO Factory (01:00) 1X: from childhood dream to reality (02:21) The World Model difference: true general intelligence (03:48) Making everything in America- why is it so important? (05:01) Walking the factory floor (06:04) Safety and privacy (07:57) A more abundant future: the real impact of NEO (09:26) Bernt's story and the 1X North Star Huge thank you to Bernt Bornich, Vikram, and the entire 1X team for opening the doors and showing us everything!](https://image.24vids.com/tw-2054271016927646141/amplify_video_thumb/2054228653341294592/img/6LVwYqbC9ofdpS6d.jpg)
I toured the only factory in America building humanoid robots from scratch. Last month, I got an exclusive first look at the facility making NEO— the humanoid robot launching into consumer homes later this year. It is the most vertically integrated humanoid robot factory in America. Every critical component is done in-house. CEO Bernt Børnich walked us through the full story: from building soapbox cars with his dad at age 11 to leading the only end-to-end humanoid robot factory in the United States. VP of Operations Vikram Kothari then took us inside the entire build process, where every motor, limb, circuit, and sensor comes together under one roof on a rapid four-week cycle from CAD to finished robot. [TIMESTAMPS] (00:00) Welcome to the NEO Factory (01:00) 1X: from childhood dream to reality (02:21) The World Model difference: true general intelligence (03:48) Making everything in America- why is it so important? (05:01) Walking the factory floor (06:04) Safety and privacy (07:57) A more abundant future: the real impact of NEO (09:26) Bernt's story and the 1X North Star Huge thank you to Bernt Bornich, Vikram, and the entire 1X team for opening the doors and showing us everything!
Roberto Nickson226,023 Aufrufe • vor 24 Tagen
The craziest thing about Bad Bunny might just be his contract. It’s one of the best in modern music history… on par with giants like Prince, The Beatles, Jay-Z, Taylor etc but unheard of for an artist so early in their career. In 2021, the label he co-owns with Noah Assad — Rimas — cut a 90/10 distribution deal with Sony's The Orchard. That means for every dollar he makes from music, streaming and concerts – they keep 90 cents. Most major label artists are lucky to see 15%. Which essentially makes Bad Bunny the most successful independent artist in the world. We’re talking about a guy, with the highest-grossing tour ever in a single calendar year. Who’s been the most streamed artist on planet earth 4 of the last 6 years. All on a 90/10 split. Bad Bunny never sold his future optionality for present opportunities. And today he’s an owner, getting paid like an owner. I think there are lessons here that any artist or creator can apply to their own careers: - Double down on identity and what makes you unique. It’s your moat. - Ownership > short-term cash (and distribution ≠ ownership) - Play the long term game and treat your brand like a business from day one
Roberto Nickson774,277 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten
The future of AAA open-world games. This is a Skyrim VR mod by YouTuber 'Art from the Machine' which lets you talk to NPCs using ChatGPT. NPCs have their own tailored prompts based on their unique backgrounds which allows ChatGPT to roleplay as that character. There's also a memory system set up to allow NPCs to remember past conversations with the player.
Roberto Nickson8,217,253 Aufrufe • vor 3 Jahren
Meta just launched Incognito Chat with Meta AI - the world's first truly private way to chat with AI. But I had a lot of questions. How does it actually work? Isn't this contradictory to Meta's business model? What assurances do we have that this is airtight? I had a chance to speak to the Head of Whatsapp Will Cathcart and Meta's VP of AI Products Vishal Shah to learn more.
Roberto Nickson104,407 Aufrufe • vor 23 Tagen
You've probably noticed the website being shipped by the Trump administration are gorgeous. The reason for that is the National Design Studio, led by the Chief Design Officer of the United States. ...who is none other than AirBnB co-founder and modern design icon Joe Gebbia. Joe is one of the top 500 wealthiest people in the world. He doesn't need to be dedicating his time modernizing the 27,000 .gov sites. But in his words, aesthetics matter. "The digital touchpoints between the US government and the American people are important." I’m glad to see design once again being prioritized by the US government.
Roberto Nickson241,827 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten
In 2013, this scene was pure science fiction. In 2025, it was a documentary of last week.
Roberto Nickson511,288 Aufrufe • vor 9 Monaten
My full conversation with Mark Zuckerberg on the breaking Meta AI announcements, fighting in the UFC, metaverse, Ray-Ban Metas, and future technologies. But what was really touching was his thoughts on legacy and fatherhood. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:37 Meta AI announcements 02:58 How brands & creators can use Meta AI 04:32 How Mark uses AI 05:57 The most excitement Mark has had as a builder? 07:36 The future of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses 12:51 10 years of Reality Labs: what's next? 16:49 Jensen Huang jersey swap 18:11 How does Mark want to be remembered? 19:23 Is it Mark actually posting on social media? 20:55 Mark's choice for best MMA fighter 21:38 Mark fighting in the UFC? 22:33 Mark's fatherhood advice
Roberto Nickson1,091,493 Aufrufe • vor 2 Jahren
It feels like less than 0.1% of people realize that humanoid housekeepers will be entering American homes in 2026. This is Neo, and starting today, he is available for pre-order. Science fiction has once again become a real product. Congratulations to 1X on the announcement, and shout out to dar and his team on the visuals, textures and world coming together around the 1X brand.
Roberto Nickson293,116 Aufrufe • vor 7 Monaten
A$AP ROCKY’s new video for HELICOPTER has some of the craziest visuals you’ve ever seen. And no... it’s not AI. It’s 4D volumetric capture surrounded with 3D animation. It’s a technique called gaussian splatting. The production capture team, Evercoast, captured about 10 terabytes of raw data, rendering roughly 30 minutes of final splatted footage. That data was then brought into Houdini, where GSOPs (Gaussian Splatting Operators) were used in combination with OTOY OctaneRender to create the final result. A message from the director of the music video dan streit who spent 5 months in post-production with the team: “I think it’s important that Rocky led with shutting down AI accusations because it’s too easy to call anything that’s remotely experimental or animated as AI nowadays. He and I both geek out over craft and want people to know that not only can you create great work without it, but audiences should empathize more with artists who slave away at their craft before assuming a computer made it all by itself.” Amazing work by this crew. Their brains need to be studied.
Roberto Nickson159,608 Aufrufe • vor 4 Monaten
The cool thing about talking with Bernt is that he isn’t just a robotics CEO, he’s a deep AI thinker who’s been obsessed with this for decades. It's obvious to me that this is his life's purpose. While most robotic labs are chasing narrow, pre-programmed behaviors, 1X built a dynamics-first world model trained on video + robot sensors. It lets NEO generalize to completely new tasks out of the box, and get smarter through every failure - the same way humans do. Bernt says NEO doesn’t need to have seen every chore. It needs a World Model with enough human experience to imagine what should happen, a body dexterous enough to attempt it, and a real-world feedback loop sharp enough to correct it. That’s how we go from task automation to general-purpose labor.
Roberto Nickson24,765 Aufrufe • vor 22 Tagen
Using ChatGPT to improve your social skills at a party. A VR developer named Tore Knabe created a party simulation featuring ChatGPT-driven NPCs, including a 'coach.' There are some interesting use-cases here for improving your cognitive abilities: ‣ Practice a presentation in front of an audience. ‣ Simulate a job interview. ‣ Practice difficult conversations. ...the list goes on. As mixed reality devices and other hardware improves, paired with AI, it could even simulate gestures and body language. You could train models specific to the simulation as well. Wild times.
Roberto Nickson676,197 Aufrufe • vor 3 Jahren
It's official. OpenAI just launched SORA 2... and an entirely new social app. Truthfully... I wanted to hate this. The idea of an endless turbo slop scroller is just… nightmare fuel to me. BUT. The reason I think Sora (the app) might actually just work, is that it’s a multiplayer meme-creation machine. It’s fun. It doesn’t take itself seriously. I think of it like a super advanced evolution of JibJab. The group chats will love it. Now… personally, I'd guess that I will be churning after the novelty fades… but I wouldn’t be surprised if they built some meaningful network effects here. But let’s talk about the model. Sora 2 is an instant Veo 3 alternative. It actually produces better physics, better audio, and deeper realism imo. It can also generate up to 15 seconds of video. Where it falls short is that it’s limited to 720p right now. We can assume 1080p and 4k exist, but the compute cost associated would probably not be economically viable for OpenAI. Okay back to the app. You can create a model after your own likeness, for yourself OR other people to use as a “cameo.” You have control over who and how someone can use your likeness. I’m “rpn24” on the app. If you have access to the app (it’s invite-only for now) – go ahead and create whatever you want using me (for now). I'm not too worried because OpenAI leaned heavily into moderation for launch. Which is probably smart because I expect the media and general public to blast this at first. They’ve also taken further precautions to protect your likeness. You can not export or save a video with someone else's likeness on it, and screen recording is disabled. Also Sora is testing (first I know of its kind) an algorithm you can prompt.
Roberto Nickson145,792 Aufrufe • vor 8 Monaten
BREAKING: Meta just debuted ORION - the most advanced AR glasses prototype ever built. I was tapped by Meta to create the video for Orion which premiered LIVE at Connect. Which means I got to spend a lot of time with the device – considered as one of the “North Star” products of the tech industry – which many believe represents the next great computing platform. Let’s break down some of the specs: ‣ 72 degree field-of-view, by far the largest of any AR glasses display. ‣ Optical alignment at the accuracy of 1/10 the width of a human hair. ‣ Powerful compute with low power consumption and heat dissipation ‣ Electromyography (EMG) wristband that lets you swipe, click and scroll while keeping your arm comfortably at your side ‣ Wireless compute puck
Roberto Nickson298,351 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
Just under two years ago, I started making videos for the internet. They were terrible. At best. But I fell in love with the process. Obsessed over how to improve little by little, day by day. Fast forward to this week, I created this short film for Orion that closed Zuck’s keynote at Connect. Please start that thing you’ve been wanting to start today. And just keep at it. Good things will happen.
Roberto Nickson217,449 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
I don’t understand how someone can play with Sora 2 or Veo 3 and not understand where things are headed. We’re entering an entirely new paradigm for creation and communication. The infinite content machine is coming and I’d argue that building an audience/distribution/brand today is akin to buying real estate in Atherton in the 80s. We’ve been living in an era of free attention and in 10 years it will be extremely scarce.
Roberto Nickson99,518 Aufrufe • vor 8 Monaten
Google Labs just updated Stitch and it's insane: → Voice-activated design (talk and it builds) → AI agent that critiques your UI and writes PRDs → Instant multi-device prototyping → Exportable design systems via markdown → Manages multiple ideas in parallel I've designed and built dozens of apps throughout the years – a formerly tedious process that's now available to anyone. No, this doesn't kill designers. But the bottlenecks are collapsing. It's a beautiful time to build. This video is not sponsored, but I did receive early access to test Stitch from my friends at Google Labs which was much appreciated 🙏
Roberto Nickson30,353 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
Let’s talk about Gemini 3 Pro. There’s really no other way to say it. The benchmarks are incredible. The jump was dramatic – much more than most people expected. Anew agentic development platform named Antigravity was also launched today. Essentially, it’s a full VS Code fork, which will disappoint some – but with Gemini 3 Pro built directly into it. Now, it will take a few days for the developer community to determine whether it outperforms Cursor and some of the other IDEs. But the advantages that Antigravity has, is that it’s coupled with Gemini 3 Pro (SOTA) Gemini 2.5 Computer Use and Nano Banana for rich media generation. Excited to dive deeper into the Gemini 3 Pro launch. A LOT to unpack today.
Roberto Nickson60,296 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten
